Morning Report: July 22, 2017

It would seem to make sense that the removal of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer would mean the return of the televised White House Press Briefing with Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Much has been made of the cancellation of the daily press briefing, particularly from CNN. CNN’s Jim Acosta called the move “un-American and dangerous for democracy.”

Anthony Scaramucci, the new White House communications director, announced Sanders’ promotion during Friday’s press briefing ―the first on-camera briefing in weeks.

Sanders frequently substituted for Spicer during daily briefings since May. She is the third female White House Press Secretary. Dana Perino served for George W. Bush and Dee Dee Myers for Bill Clinton.

DNC Goes Broke

The Democratic National Committee is $3.3 million in debt, according to its June Federal Election Commission report.

The Republican National Committee is debt free, with $44.7 million on hand.

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The Democrats’ low numbers could be attributed to the public perception of the party. A poll conducted by The Washington Post and ABC News 1o days ago noted:

The DNC only has $7.5 million on hand, the filing report read.

The Democrats stand for something: 37 percent.

The Democrats just stand against Trump: 52 percent.

All Eyes on Senate Judiciary Committee

Donald Trump Jr. and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort will publicly testify before a Senate panel next week.

The Senate Judiciary Committee announced they will appear July 26 in a public hearing.

The announcement comes after special counsel Robert Mueller cleared the way for the committee to call for pubic testimony from the two men.

Much of the discussion is expected to be focused on a June 2016 meeting the two had with a Russian lawyer.

Trump Jr. released email correspondence showing he took the meeting in hopes of getting incriminating information about Hillary Clinton.

Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser who also attended the controversial Trump Tower meeting, will also testify next week but in a closed session.

IVN Podcast

From Brexit to the FARC peace deal, there have been some shockers in referendums: the polls have very much gone one way, and the results another.

So what the heck is going on? In this episode, Xander and Erik talk about how polling works, how it might be going so wrong, and what oddities are going on with direct democracy versus the representative stuff we’re used to.